1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a solid state printer and more particularly to solid state printers for printing weights on carcasses, boxes or other products after they have been weighed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is common in the industry to weigh articles and then mark them with the weight either at the scale or at a subsequent station. An example for such a device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,080,813 which issued Mar. 12, 1963 to Staub, et al. This structure has the disadvantage of being quite complex and requiring the setting of the numbers to be printed by means of indexing wheels. Various types of solid state printers are known, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,112,693 which issued on Dec. 3, 1963 to Williams. In this structure electrostrictive material is used for the digital segments. However, because of the small amount of extension possible with electrostrictive material this type of printer is not suitable for marking weighed articles but is usable only for printing the weight on a separate paper. A similar electrostrictive printer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,242,855 which issued Mar. 29, 1966 to Noll, et al.